


You, Me—What Happened Again?

by WitheringFeniks



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes & Winter Soldier are Different Personalities, Bucky Barnes-centric, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Flashbacks, Getting Together, Hurt Tony Stark, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, Protective Bucky Barnes, Split Personalities, Temporary Amnesia, Tony-centric, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, protective winter soldier, timeline? what timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-10-18 14:20:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20640587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WitheringFeniks/pseuds/WitheringFeniks
Summary: Waking up in a car, in pain and remembering nothing of the last few days isn't the worst part.Nope.It's the fact Tony was in a car with the Winter Soldier, not Bucky Barnes.Could someone please tell him what the hell happened?





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hover over Russian words for translation. For mobile, the translations will be at the bottom.
> 
> \---
> 
> This is a mini-story, mostly based around flashbacks and three idiots having no idea how they got into this situation.
> 
> Present events will be Tony POV but flashbacks with be all of them.

Tony knew immediately that something was wrong.

His entire body _ached_—and not in the good kind of way.

As he became more and more aware, he realised he was in a moving car, head slumped awkwardly toward the door. He could feel a mother of all headaches pounding away inside his skull, his joints pulsed annoyingly, his mouth was dry, and a painfully throb resonated from his stomach. Just the thought of the throb made it hurt more—or maybe it was getting worse as he woke up more.

He absently noted the buzzing of the air conditioning before actually feeling the cool air—even then he felt hot.

He tried to think beyond the pounding headache that was assaulting him. But he couldn’t…

Something was _wrong_.

He came to that conclusion quickly because he couldn’t remember anything—not how he might have gotten here or anything days before.

That last thing he could really remember was him and Barnes watching Star Trek and planning a trip up to someplace for a getaway since Pepper had given him a week free from any SI responsibility.

Tony started to drift off again—his body too exhausted—when a hand came to settle on his knee. It was heavy and warm with long fingers that squeezed just above his kneecap before sliding up and down his thigh. It startled him enough to jerk, eyes lethargically flashing open as he tried to sit up only to be hit with agonising pain.

He choked, clenching his jaw shut—he hardly noticed the hand on his leg tightened—and he clutched his stomach in a vain attempt to get it to stop hurting. He sucked in a breath and before he could put any more pressure on the spot, a hand grabbed his wrist and pull his away.

“Не делай этого.”

Tony turned his blurry sight onto the owner of the hand and voice. Immediately familiar silver-blue eyes meet his, brown hair was matted with dried blood and covering the face was a familiar black faceguard.

Tony’s ears rushed with blood and it took him a moment to register just who it was. “James?”

His voice was hoarse and his throat hurt to speak.

“Нет.”

Shit.

Tony was looking into the cool gaze of the _Winter Soldier_, not Bucky Barnes.

* * *

Tony stared at the Winter soldier for a solid several moments, blinking blearily as his mind tried to register the sudden influx of information but his brain wasn't having it—his brain just continued to pulse against his brain.

(Tony would say angrily if his brain was an actual thing with emotions.)

He swallowed. "What happened?"

The Winter Soldier released his hand and turned back to the road, saying nothing. Tony felt his irritation began to grow but before he could ask the question again the Soldier spoke.

“Воспоминания неполные. Проснулся, чтобы увидеть, как ты защищаешь меня. Ситуация опасная.” Tony stared blankly at him.

"I don't understand Russian." Tony rasped, really annoyed that he'd not yet started his plans to learn the language. "In English _please_."

He got the side-eye—which Tony would have found funny, had this been literally any _other_ situation.

"My memories are incomplete. I woke to see you protecting me. Situation was dangerous."

Tony sighed heavily, slumping into the seat only the grimace in pain. "And what situation was that?"

He got a noise that sounded rather disgruntled and the Winter Soldier began to explain.

* * *

> It was the sound of gunfire that snapped the Soldat awake. The too bright ceiling lights distorted his vision momentarily before they adjusted. There was more gunfire and the sound of a struggle going on.
> 
> The Asset rolled over to see a familiar brunet man—Tony Stark. Level Threat: six. Do not engage unless absolutely necessary—holding another man in familiar uniform around the neck.
> 
> HYDRA uniform.
> 
> The Asset tensed—were they here to for him?
> 
> Stark took the man down only to initiate a fight with another HYDRA agent that rushed through the door, a second followed.
> 
> "Stand down, Stark!"
> 
> "Over my dead body!" The idiot threw himself at the first—despite the man being baseline human and normally fighting with the use of his Ironman suit, the Asset found himself surprised at the skill Stark held. Of course, it was obvious Stark was injured, his head was bleeding, his was favouring his right foot and his left arm was badly bruising already.
> 
> The Asset used the chance while the three were distracted with one another to locate a knife that had landed nearby.
> 
> Stark shout of pain brought him back quickly, chest squeezing tightly. The Asset watched as he was went stumbling, a knife protruding from his left side of his abdomen.
> 
> There was a flash of... something that hit the Asset—something the Asset knew originated from his other half—of which wasn't actually awake but responded either way.
> 
> So the Asset launched himself at the nearest HYDRA agents—he was no longer a tool for them, they, _he_, was a _free_ man—and was oh-so-happy to kill them both without any sort of guilt.
> 
> The Asset would never feel guilty for HYDRA scum.
> 
> His attention turned to Stark, the man gasping for breath as he pressed his fingers around the knife to put pressure on the wound. Good.

* * *

Tony frowned. "So neither of us remembers how we got into the situation?"

“Да.”

Tony sighed, licking his dry lips. "What happened to James then? He not awake?"

"He's..." The Winter Soldier's brows furrowed in—Tony wanted to say—concern. "He has not awoken, the only hints I have gotten from him is flashes but nothing considered a real response."

Tony bit his lip. "You got hit in the head?"

The Russian nodded.

"I'm not expert in DID, so maybe the hit knocked him out and forced you to come to the surface?"

"Plausible."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Не делай этого.” - Don't do that.
> 
> "Нет." - No.
> 
> "Воспоминания неполные. Проснулся, чтобы увидеть, как ты защищаешь меня. Ситуация опасная." - The memories are incomplete. Woke to see you protecting me. Situation dangerous.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it’s been a while but I was mostly fine tuning the plot.
> 
> This was written on a phone, so any spacing errors or such are because of that.
> 
> Hopefully the next part would be such a wait.
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

"So you gonna tell me where it is we're heading?" Tony asked after a long stretch of silence where he tried and failed at recalling events. He'd turned his focus onto his body instead, he'd hit his head at some point but there was only a small cut (but lots of blood, head wounds bleed the most annoyingly), a sprained and bruising left wrist, sore right ankle, and—a stab wound? A wound that was definitely on the edges of infection, he realised with a grimace, but there was not much he could do in their current situation.

"We are heading south, I recognised the base that we were in. I know of a motel that may be able to provide assistance."

Tony blinked and peered out the window. "Canada?"

"Да." (Yes)

Tony exhaled but immediately regretted the action. "Fuck."

Winter turned his head, eyes off the road to focus on him. "I was not able to locate any medical supplies, but I stripped an agent of their shirt to use as a bandage. My apologies."

Tony blinked—he hadn't expected the apology.

Then again, Winter wasn't a very active Alter. James had mentioned Winter was a bit of a backseat driver, only take over when Barnes mental state wasn’t the best. Barnes still wasn't 100% because you don't get over seventy years of brainwashing and torture in a matter of months. Winter acted more of a protector nowadays for James that likes to hide in the shadows and clean his knives in the living room at odd hours.

"S'fine." Tony squinted at him. "Why are you apologizing anyway?"

Winter blinked. "It is the right thing to do...?"

Tony withheld an amused smirk but felt his lips twitch. "You didn't give me the injuries, popsicle. So you don't need to say sorry for it."

Winter frowned. "Oh. James has been explaining things to me but, I still get confused about most things. Many thanks."

God, Tony forgot how adorable Winter could get. He was a fucking assassin—a seventy-year-old ghost story—but he loved soft things and there was this undeniable child-like awe when he experiences new things that made you forget where exactly he'd come from.

* * *

> The door to his workshop slid open and Tony led Winter inside. "And this is where the magic happens, Tastey-freeze."
> 
> When the Alter didn't say anything, Tony turned to see the man standing there, eyes wide.
> 
> Tony actually paused at the expression—sure, people were often left awed the first time they saw his workshops, but he'd never gotten such a reaction like _this_ before.
> 
> God, it made Tony want to wrap the man in fluffy blankets and cuddle him. It disturbed Tony—like really disturbed him because he'd never felt something like _that_ before and the fact Tony should not be feeling this for a damn assassin that could kill him in his sleep and make it look like an accident.
> 
> "I..." Winter blinked, turning to look at Tony. It was then DUM-E beeped and approached. Winter's breath hitched at the sight of DUM-E. "_Oh_."
> 
> DUM-E wheeled over to the man, beeping again, only curiously this time as he noticed the metal arm. Winter held said arm out, letting the bot examine it. "Incredible."
> 
> He was going to kill Tony.
> 
> Tony couldn't take it—there was no way anyone could be this damn adorable.

* * *

Tony blinked out of the memory and waved Winter off. "Do you know how far out we far?" He really wanted to sleep some more, his pounding head made him want to burst into tears and wasn't that something.

"An hour." Winter dipped his chin as he focused back on the road. "I will wake you when we arrive if you wish to return to sleep. I know you must be exhausted, you are not like me, your body can only take so much."

Tony just hummed in return, already on the edge of unconsciousness.

* * *

There was something brushing against his cheek and it disturbed him, Tony huffed and tried to move away from it. He sighed as it disappeared, but moments later—Tony thinks he drifts for a while, can’t be sure, doesn’t really care—something instead tucks hair behind his ear before scritching behind said ear. Tony groaned and leaned into it—he loved it when he was scratched there, always had. Just something about the action was soothing.

The touch vanished and Tony jerked—_no, no, come back!_

However, as he tried to chase the touch he was unfortunately reminded of his injuries. It certainly woke him up. He couldn’t stop the cry that escaped him—_hurtshurtshurtshurts_.

“Shhh, shshshsh.” The hand was back, only this time fingers ran through his hair softly. “дорогой (darling), it is okay.”

Tony stifled a sob—he was not going to cry, Stark men were made of iron, damnit—and forced his eyes open to see familiar silver-blue eyes of James—_Winter_. Tony quickly remembered it was Winter in the pilot’s seat at the moment.

He opened his mouth to say something but he quickly clamped it shut again when nothing leaves.

Winter lent further into the car, hovering over him slightly to reach around and unclip his seatbelt. Tony groaned softly but didn’t protest when Winter moved his arms around his shoulders, in fact, Tony just tightened his grip.

Despite knowing what Winter was planning to do and that it would hurt, it didn’t prepare him for how much it actually would. He buried his face into Winter’s shoulder, barely muffling his cry of agony.

He registered Winter humming softly (felt it mostly from the vibrations of his chest), it sounded Russian, but Tony didn’t have the mental capacity to focus on anything but the pain.

They moved—or rather Winter moved—and there was a cool breeze on his cheeks before they stepped inside. The yellow-tinted lights hurt his eyes and Tony grunted, squeezing them closed. There was more Russian murmured into his hair.

Or maybe it wasn’t even Russian at this point.

Tony can’t bring himself to focus as voices start talking—a middle-aged woman perhaps, a man with a gruff voice and Winter’s Russian accented voice.

Tony thinks he hears words like room, shelter, first aid and plenty more but he feels like he’s underwater, every piece of noise is muffled to him.

He drifts again.


End file.
